A place for librarians to get and share information, ideas and inspiration about serving youth of all ages--and their caregivers. Especially for librarians in west-central Wisconsin's Indianhead Federated Library System.

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Welcome to this latest attempt to connect librarians from west-central Wisconsin with each other! Please send in content (booklists, ideas, photos, etc.), and comment on posts so we can help each other.If you were using feedmyinbox to get new posts sent to you before, you'll need to switch to another service (blogtrottr works like feedmyinbox, googlereader is a good blog-reader to try).

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Thursday, April 21, 2011

There is so much out there to help you do a terrific Summer Library Program. Lately, a few books and one movie caught my eye. I thought they would be fun to feature in a display or use in some other way during your Summer Library Program. Not meant to be exhaustive!

Sidewalk Games Aroudn the Worldby Arlene Erlbach, illustrated by Sharon Lane Holm. Copyright 1997.Children's Traditional Games: Games from 137 Countries and Cultures. By Judy Sierra and Robert Kaminski. Copyright 1995.If you are putting together a big program with various stations representing various countries or if you are looking for a few games to add in to a program, these are great resources. Easy-to-understand directions for simple games from all over the world are included. Most of the games would be best for ages 6-12, but in some circumstances I'm sure you could go older or younger.

Going to School in India. DVD. Master Communications, Inc. Copyright 2006/2007.This DVD includes several stories of different school experiences, told from the child's perspective. There are short films from all over India, and we get a taste of what it is like to go to school on a lake, on a boat, on a bus, in the dark, in a monastery, in a mud desert, on a mountaintop, and what it is like for a young boy with a mobility disability to be able to go to school now that he has a wheelchair. The child-centered focus of this award-winning film would make this an engaging way to look at another culture, and you could show as many sections as you wanted to during a program. This is also available as a book.

If the World Were a Village, Second Edition. By David J. Smith, illustratate by Shelagh Armstrong. Copyright 2011.This books takes all the population of the world and condenses it to a village of 100 people. If the whole world was 100 people, 61 would be from Asia! 47 do not have food security. 36 are school-aged. This would be a good one to display, and it might inspire you to do some projects or representations with kids.

What the World Eats. Photographed by Peter Menzel. Written by Faith D'Aluisio. Copyright 2008.A children's version of the couple's book for adults, Hungry Planet, this fascinating book includes photographs of 25 families from 21 countries, along with their food for the week. Just the photos themselves are very interesting--comparing the budget for a family in Australia with that of a family in Chad is illuminating! The written commentary gives a better understanding of the family's circumstances. Intriguing recipes accompany every family's section. I think this book is important and interesting, and would definitely grab readers if you had it on display. When the pair's adult book Material World came out (picturing families with all their possessions in their front yards) my elementary-school age kids were enthralled!

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Remember Every Child Ready to Read @ Your Library? It's been revised and updated into a second version, and Wednesday, May 4 at 1 pm there will be a free Sneak Peek Webinar for the Every Child Ready to Read® (ECRR) @ your library® 2nd Edition.

Featuring Dr. Susan Neuman, professor in educational studies, University of Michigan School of Education, and Elaine Meyers, independent library consultant, this hour-long webinar will provide a review of the early literacy research that led to the development of the "ECRR 2nd Edition"; an overview of the toolkit’s components; and an opportunity for participants to ask questions.

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

We had a really great workshop earlier this month with Tammi Poppe, an autism expert from Shawano County. The folks at the workshop learned a lot about the autism spectrum and some great things to consider when providing services. Here is one:

For someone who has a lot of sensory sensitivity, sometimes visual, auditory, or tactile stimuli are very painful. So, for instance, look at your lights. The lights we have at IFLS are panels with flourescent long bulbs. Did you know that they flicker and that this is physically painful to someone who is sensitive? I can't even tell that they flicker! Even though it might not be possible to revamp your entire lighting system, here are a few things that Tammi suggested:

Have a full spectrum lamp or study areas near natural light source

There are diffusers or covers you can purchase to put over the panels

If your budget can't handle that, Tammi suggested purchasing gauzy/silky fabric (in a calm color) and attaching that to the panels will help cut down on the glare and flicker

If you weren't able to make it to the training and you would like more information, you can take a look at the Power Points, available on our website.

This seems like a possible grant project for next year, there are some concrete, tangible things we could do in our libraries that would make them more manageable for people on the autism spectrum. As Tammi pointed out, behavior is communication, and if people are comfortable in our environment it will really help! If you would like to discuss this further, please contact me, or leave a note in the comments.